Subscribe to this blog

Subscribe

Search This Blog

Sara Westbrook's UPower Helps Kids Make the Right Choices

We all want our children to succeed but at times it's hard to find the right words to prepare them for this world. There are many opportunities out there but it can get tough at times and one needs resilience to make it through. Sara Westbrook can help. She is a motivational speaker/singer/songwriter specializing in respect and resilience. Her UPower program has been presented to over 140,000 students across Canada.

According to Sara, "UPower is the power that comes from within...We can’t always control the circumstances in our lives but we always have the ability to choose the choices we make – this is where the power lies.”

I met Sara after a UPower assembly at my daughter's school. My daughter was chatting with me about Sara and her advice to the students. My little girl informed me of the power we all have within us to control our own emotions but we don't have the power to control the emotions of others. Therefore, sometimes the only way to change the way people respond to you is to change your approach. My daughter GOT IT after just one session with Sara...a message that takes some of us a lifetime to understand.

She was packing up her swag when I introduced myself. Right away, I knew what captivated my daughter. Sara is beautiful, not just on the outside; her beauty also shines from within. She is bright, bubbly, positive, and she looks like she's 19 years old (young enough for kids to believe). She has the perfect recipe. Her wisdom is way beyond her years but she articulates her message in such an honest and transparent way that young people find easy to understand.

She uplifts young people by telling them they’re not alone and that it is possible to move through challenging times, as long as you have a good set of life skills in your back pocket. She reminds us of the fact that young people need outlets and tools to help them develop that set of life skills. Sara has many tools, including the UPower Journal that she created "for youth to express their thoughts and feelings" and "build their confidence and resilience through the stories, exercises," and thought provoking quotes.

Sara is a remarkable human being and I'm thankful for the positive impact she's had on my daughter. I'm also grateful for the positive impact she's had on me as a parent and as an individual. There's a lot of "self-help" information out there but in many cases, the language used can be quite technical and as a result, the message is lost. I have learned so much from reading Sara's blog and after each read, I feel armed with the tools to not only help my children but to also help myself.

Where she finds the time to do as much as she does is a mystery to me but I'm grateful for it.